Lalitha Sahasranamam 108 - 111

Monday, August 17, 2009

Ṣaṭcakropari-samsthitā षट्चक्रोपरि-सम्स्थिता (108)

She is above the six cakra-s starting from mūlādhāra to ājñācakra-s. She is now at sahasrāra, which is not a cakra. As sahasrāra is above the six cakra-s, hence this nāma. There is another interpretation possible. It has been seen earlier, that She is the Brahman when united with Śiva. To realise the Brahman in sahasrāra, one has to cross the lower cakra-s, all of which are associated with worldly acts. Sahasrāra is above the worldly acts. That is why She is said to be above these six cakra-s, meaning that the Brahman is above the six cakra-s.

Mahāsaktiḥ महासक्तिः (109)

Maha means festivals and asaktiḥ means great liking. She has a great liking for festivities. Here festival means Her union with Śiva. Festivities are of two kinds. One that is celebrated internally (associated with mind) and another is external worship (associated with body). If this nāma is interpreted, based on Saundarya Laharī (verse 9) mahīṁ mūlādhāre, (meaning – the earth is placed in mūlādhāra) then it means only internal worship, worshipping Her subtlest form Kuṇḍalinī. She likes internal worship. Maha means supremacy, ā means on all sides and Śaktī means supreme. Her supreme power is spread across everywhere. In this context, this nāma means that She is the Supreme power.

Kuṇḍalinī कुण्डलिनी (110)

She is in the form of a three and a half coiled snake in mūlādhāracakra. Her subtlest form is described in this single nāma. Her subtler form kāmakalā (nāma 322) is also described in a single nāma. But Vāc Devi-s used nāmas 13 to 54 to describe Her subtle form. This also goes to prove the importance of internal worship or meditation than the external rituals. The vital energy of prāṇa is called kuṇḍalinī. This lies in the mūlādhāracakra in the midst of fire that keeps biological body warm. Any modification in the intensity of this fire causes sickness. The sound of the Kuṇḍalinī can be felt by anyone. If one closes both his ears tightly, he can listen to a hissing sound, the sound of Kuṇḍalinī from within. The base cakra is a triangle where icchā, jñāna and kriyāśakti-s (desire, knowledge and action) form the three sides. From these three śakti-s (potencies) the sound of OM a, u and m is generated. Yoga-vāsiṣṭha (the compendium of teachings of sage Vāsiṣṭha to Lord Rāma) in nirvāna prakaraṇa (the last of six chapters) talks about Kuṇḍalinī. Sage Vāsiṣṭha says to Lord Rāma “Like the coiled body of a serpent when it sleeps…like a plantain flower it is exceedingly delicate within…hissing like an angry female serpent…causing fluctuations in the mind. All other nādi-s are connected with this. This becomes purified only by the rays of jñāna or knowledge….thus this Śaktī rejoices in the name of puryaṣṭaka. Should the upward and downward actions of this Kuṇḍalinīśakti be arrested by the control of prāṇa and this prāṇa be made to rest in the heart, diseases will never affect those who have such control.” Yoga-vāsiṣṭha also talks about siddhi-s.

Kānci Paramācāryā in his magnum opus ‘Voice of God’ observed the following about Kuṇḍalinī yoga: “Kuṇḍalinī yoga is not the only path available to the seeker. Choose any path other than it, adhere to it with a mind that is one-pointed and with faith and sincerity. As you advance to a high state on this path, your breathing will change automatically and it will be similar to that of one practising yoga-s. You may even be aware of it; the breathing will change on its own” and after saying that one’s breath will undergo modifications, he says, “....the movement of breath will impinge on the nerves in the roof of our head and touching the feet of Ambāl (referring to Śaktī) create a flow of ambrosia. Even in worldly life when we are in ecstasy of delight our breathing stops and we faint. In this there is reflection of the emotion experienced by us during kumbhaka (holding breath). During this time we excalim: ‘Ah, I feel cool in the crown of my head.’ This also means that a tiny droplet of the ambrosia has trickleld on the nerves in the crown of the head. I have said this to show that even by following the path of devotion you can have inward experience of sublime nature.”

Viṣṇu Sahasranāma nāma 907 is kuṇḍaline.

{Further reading on puryaṣṭaka: (as told by sage Vāsiṣṭha to Lord Rama in Yoga-vāsiṣṭha - VI.5). Brahman who is without beginning or end and which is the seed of the universe, becoming differentiated is jīva (soul); subjecting itself to the idea of separateness, it becomes ahaṃkāra (ego) with manana (contemplation), it becomes manas (mind); with the certainty of intelligence, it becomes buddhi (intellect); then the five elements (sound, etc) through indriyā-s (sensory organs). With the thought of the body, it becomes the body itself; with the thought of a vessel, it becomes the vessel. A form (subtle body), having such a nature is called puryaṣṭaka body or eight constituents of the body. The eight constituents are mind, ego, intellect, sound, touch, sight, taste and smell, the last five together known as tanmātra-s.}

Bisatantu-tanīyasī बिसतन्तु-तनीयसी (111)

She is like the minute fibre of a lotus stalk. This is the last of the nāma-s that describe Her subtlest form. She is like a young girl in the lower cakra-s as She makes sound in the mūlādhārācakra, gets dressed like a bride in the navel cakra and proceeds to meet her spouse Śiva in sahasrāra. There are many references for this description. These descriptions ultimately point to the path of Kuṇḍalinī, the inner canal of the spinal cord which is extremely subtle and almost invisible. When Kuṇḍalinī ascends through this middle canal without any blocks or deviations, it shines like a lightning. Since it has such immense potency, it confers on the sādhaka certain siddhi-s before it reaches the crown cakra. If the sādhaka misuses such powers, he will not be able to realize the Brahman and also gets punished. Though She has the burning desire to conjoin Her spouse, She certainly knows how Her power has been utilized by the sādhaka during Her sojourn in various cakra-s of the sādhaka. She never forgets the duties allotted to Her by Śiva.

Possibly, the Vāc Devi-s used two nāma-s to emphasise both Her minute (this nāma), and mahat or supreme (nāma 109) forms, as otherwise there is no necessity for them to talk about anything else after describing Her subtlest Kuṇḍalinī form (nāma 110).

Nārāyaṇa sūkta describes Kuṇḍalinī thus: “The place for His meditation is the ether in the heart, the heart which is comparable to an inverted lotus bud. It should be known that the heart which is located just at the distance of a finger span below the Adam’s apple and above the navel is the great abode of the universe. Like the bud of a lotus, suspends in an inverted position, the heart surrounded by arteries. In it or near it there is a narrow space (suṣumna). In it everything is supported. In the middle of that remains the non-decaying, all knowing, multi faced, great fire, which has flames on every side, which enjoys the food presented before it, which remains assimilating food consumed and which warms its own body from the insole to the crown. In the centre of that fire, which permeates the whole body, there abides a tongue of fire, of the colour of shining gold, which is the topmost among the subtle, which is dazzling like the flash of lightning that appears in the middle of a rain-bearing cloud, which is as slender as the awn of paddy grain and which serves as a comparison to illustrate subtlety.”

Possibly this nāma could also mean the citrini nādi, which is the central canal of the spinal cord through which Kuṇḍalinī ascends and descends.

With this nāma the description of Her Kuṇḍalinī form ends and from the next nāma, the description of Her blessings begin.